Departure - A Reimagining
by Afroeuvre
Summary: So I remembered this scene in House of M where a comatose/slumbering Sofia is being held by Kitty with Laurie knelt at her side. There are some tid-bits that just speak volumes to me and so I wanted to kind of sort of write the build-up to that and fill in some of the blanks between that segment of HoM and the aftermath that we witness in the pages of NXM.
1. Chapter 1 - Breakdown

It's a debilitating heart-ache unlike any she has ever had the agony of suffering. A veritable cut to the core of her heart. A perpetual anguish that she fears she won't ever recover from. Laurie Collins ponders whether or not she understood the true meanings of love and life before meeting Sofia Mantega, the girl who irrevocably changed her life, the girl who; since their fortuitous acquaintance with one another, has exemplified the substance of love. Sofia, who taught Laurie how to laugh and feel with inexplicable abandon. Sofia, who's very presence resonates a benevolent warmth. It breaks Laurie's heart to see the embodiment of hope and happiness reduced to a bed-bound state. And it makes Laurie scared for the ominous portents that could be looming on the horizon. Sitting at Sofia's bedside, watching her through misty eyes, she ruminates on what happened. She thinks back to yesterday.

Since the resolution of the New Mutants' internecine quarrelling, Sofia and David Alleyne both thought it best to make use of the scarcely remaining time they had prior to the commencing of a new term at the Xavier Institute by utilizing various terrains and scenarios for combat simulation and re-enactment. Sofia, about to initiate a newly conceptualized battle sequence formulated by David, was buoyed in the air and undulated by the ever-increasing buffeted cushion of her winds. Laurie was perennially awe-struck by the graceful glory with which Sofia conducted her abilities in addition to the consummate mastery that she wielded over them. There was this mesmerizing preternatural predisposition she possessed towards them, this intrinsic quality that illustrated Sofia's oneness with her element and her element's subsequent oneness with her. Laurie almost finds herself somewhat intoxicated by the sheer freedom that Sofia revels in whilst caressed by the wind that is a part of her mutant namesake. The second phase of the sequence stipulates the presence of Noriko Ashida, who bears the brunt of Sofia's potent localized volume of wind in motion, that is quickly amassing greater power. Noriko's role is to generate and harness the ambient electricity within the air, to the extent in which a localized volume of electrified air materializes that would catastrophically neutralize a vulnerable coterie of adversaries were they to meet the New Mutants head on in a hypothetical situation. Noriko charges the air with just enough electric potential whilst Sofia facilitates its locomotion by increasing the wind's turbulence. What we have in consequential effect is something almost akin to a manufactured tornado, flanked with electric potential. It requires an awesome amount of dexterity and exactitude on both the parts of Noriko and Sofia to ensure that this sequence does not self-destruct as a result of callousness, but they succeed. If only for a time. Laurie's pheromones preside over emotions, and as such she has developed an innate sensitivity and awareness to the emotions of those around her. That sensitivity continues to grow, to what degrees Laurie has of yet to ascertain. An overwhelming sense of dread wafts in from the institute and it dislodges Laurie from her focus on Sofia. Perturbed, she looks back at the institute for further inspection and does not find anything perceptibly amiss. Before she would have second-guessed herself and contemplated, but growth and development prompt a wise decision to communicate her qualms to the rest of her teammates. She turns back to the scene, and everything begins to crumble from thereon out.

"Sofia! David!", she hears Noriko scream. The unravelling commotion comes to Laurie's cognition, and this is the start of hell breaking loose. Sofia, previously atop her volume of wind, drops without preamble through the air, her lethal descent broken only by Jay Guthrie, the New Mutants' winged compatriot. Jay endures the concurrent electrical storm, making no effort to shield himself from the veritable atmospheric onslaught of wind and electricity. He reaches, catches and cradles Sofia, then directs his attention to David below on the ground, who's grabbing his head and convulsing in pain. 'It's OK, Nori. I've got her! But you need to de-charge this "storm" first, before it takes a mind of its own!', Nori tacitly adheres to his imploration and establishes a luminous and ionized path that serves as a conduit for the absorption of the electrical energy that had amalgamated itself with Sofia's tornado.

Jay erects a façade of comport and resilience against the existential chaos that currently conspires to engulf them. He hadn't ever entertained attachments of sentimentality towards any of his teammates or school peers because of the emotional turmoil that he had been afflicted with, but last summer catalysed a new genesis for all of them. The team had re-fortified their foundation as a unit, but most importantly, as a family for the first time since their conception despite their individual differences, and Jay found in all of them kindred souls for relation. He wonders whether that was another mindless act of self-sabotage on his part, because Sofia and David respectively have been stricken by some unknown entity and on the cusp of a new resurgence, the New Mutants have suffered a blow that may just change everything. He is scared, but he knows that the rest of his teammates are dependent on him, being the eldest and most mature. He is about to instruct Joshua Foley to attend to David's case, before noticing that Josh is already doing so with disastrous results. Josh instinctively thinks David's malady to be biological in nature, and so resorts to the utilization of his healing powers to remedy the situation, however David's thrashing, writhing and delirious flailing renders that unfeasible for the time being. It's a traumatizing sight for the team, to see their characteristically calm, collected and poised leader subject to such torment. For Noriko most especially, to see the man she loves under the throes of an unknown assailant. She does not know what to say, all she feels is that it needs to stop. Laurie takes one final, horrified look back at the Institute before running towards the scene, materializing sleep-inducing pheromones that will abate David's breakdown. The iris of her eyes turn golden, and with outstretched arms she saturates David with her pheromones. He does not succumb to them as easily as she would have thought. His teeth are gritted and his face contorted in misery. He lets out a harrowing scream, one that none of the New Mutants present will ever forget, and then falls. Noriko accelerates herself to the breaking of his fall, and limply kneels to the ground as she cups his head that is now nestled in her lap. She looks back over to a lifeless Sofia carried by Jay, and stifles her tears. 'What the hell is happening…?', Noriko asks. Josh arrives from Jay and Sofia, perplexed and replete with anxiety. 'She's alive but my powers won't wake her up! I…I don't know what's wrong?!', Josh says, on the verge of a breakdown of his own.

'Calm down, Josh. This is clearly beyond our scope. We've got to get Sofia and David analysed by Professor McCoy. Him or the other senior X-Men should know what to do.', Jay says.

'Do you really think they know what the problem is, Jay?', Laurie tentatively asks.

'Do you really think they don't?', Noriko replies, laboriously heaving herself up with David in her arms. Josh attempts to assist. 'It's fine, Foley. I'm good'. She hadn't realized how heavy he was until now and also hadn't ever envisioned finding out under such dire circumstances. Her body thrums with electricity and the air around her crackles with it, too. 'Nothing like this has ever happened, guys. Whatever this is, we're going to need a prayer.', Noriko says, with a foreboding resolution. The remaining New Mutants: Jay, Josh, Noriko and Laurie, look respectively at one another, bereft of any comprehension of the situation. They find themselves racked with a paralytic discomfort. Noriko begins to crackle with more electricity until like a flash, she's gone from their mists, leaving only a path of electrified air to mark her trajectory. Jay follows in suit.

'Come on, guys. It'll be fine.', Jay says with feigned reassurance. And whilst articulating that statement, a nauseating well of hopelessness begins to surge from the pit of his stomach. He flies off. Laurie and Josh are momentarily frozen in a psychosis. A daze. Laurie snaps out of it, and looks at Josh, making sure to restrict the emission of her pheromones considering her emotional state of mind. 'We…we've got to go, Josh.', she says, placing her left hand on his right shoulder. He too is disengaged from his transfixion on the institute, and his eyes lock with Laurie's. 'OK'. Laurie takes Josh by the hand, and they start to run, until Josh momentarily stops, and she looks back at him. 'But Laurie…,', he starts. 'I'm scared. Why am I so scared?' Laurie founds herself robbed of the words to reply. She says nothing.

And then the reminiscence ends there, and Laurie finds herself jaunted back to the present, in a room that feels so old. The room she shares with Sofia. It's 2:45 am in the morning, and as per Emma Frost and The Cuckoo's telepathic coercion, all students in The Xavier Institute are in a deep slumber following the cataclysmic panic. Laurie finds herself inexpressibly lethargic, and so in her tired stupor, she somewhat staggers out of the chair, and walks over to her own bed, across the room and next to the windows. She doesn't notice the magical moonlight streaming from the windows, past the draped floral patterned curtains. At least they would have been magical. Now she doesn't feel any magic or wonder, she just feels sad. She bundles together her duvet and walks back over to the chair. She gently sits down, feeling heavier than she did before. She takes inventory of this room that meant so much to her. This room that feels so spiritless now. She looks over to Sofia, checking to see if anything is awry or out of place. Everything is as it should be, and Sofia maintains her tranquil sleep. Laurie pulls the duvet over the entirety of her body, repositions her chair so that it faces the room instead of Sofia's bed, tilts her head back, and with a heavy heart, she closes her eyes and sleeps. A part of her hope that it was all just a long dream, and a part of her is terrified by the fact that it wasn't and could not ever have been a dream.


	2. Chapter 2

Departure: Chapter 2

She awakens with a terrible disposition festering in her heart and soul. Something is awfully wrong. Her eyes, in a sleepy stupor—take inventory of her dormitory room, of which she shares with Laurie. The pang of ebbing horror within her heart begins to take root. She abruptly notices a slumbering Laurie sat on a chair next to her bed, her head gently rested and positioned on their bedroom wall a couple of centimetres away from the bed frame. A cacophony of scattershot images shoot through her mind's eye, and results in an inexplicably overwhelming sense of devastation. She remembers a yesterday cut short, and her world turning upside down. And then she hears it, the ineffable storm of hysteria that is shaking The Xavier Institute. It almost cripples her, the wailing, the palpable fear and dread, but she fortifies herself for the worst, as is her responsibility as leader of the New Mutants. But it is a fearsome struggle and she cannot help but wonder whether or not this pandemonium is a result of a grave and consequential tragedy. She realizes with a heart-pounding alarm that her body is stricken by some sort of weakness. Using both hands, she hoists herself upright, so that her back is leaning on her bed frame. Sofia Mantega trembles. She knows something is missing. She looks over to her dear friend, Laurie, who is still sleeping, and for a brief transitory moment, she sees her mother in Laurie's place. The light of a topaz sun illuminating her corporeal visage. Her mother smiles a smile of comfort. 'My darling.' Before Sofia can even register this bizarre sight, reality settles in. Sofia hears rumbling just outside of their door, like a stampede. She reaches over to Laurie's knee, covered by the duvet, and jostles it about to wake Laurie up. Laurie slowly comes to, and her eyes look deeply sunken in. Sofia can tell that Laurie had been crying. Their eyes meet and a preternatural exchange takes place, bereft of verbalized dialogue. Their friendship, their relationship, has very much since facilitated the communication of a variety of messages irrespective of the context and circumstance. Except now there's nothing to communicate other than a suppressed woe. Laurie suddenly finds herself divested of the intellectual or emotional capacity to speak, for try as she might to convey endearment and support, she fumbles. And she falls. It almost infuriates her, this inadequacy, this incompetency to maintain a resolve in the wake of such a crisis. This inability to be the rock of repose in a great storm for Sofia. 'Sofia…', Laurie starts, a morose tremor in her voice. The subtle dilation of Sofia's eyes coupled with the violent suppression of tears accompanies Sofia's ascertaining of the true reason for the furore that has ensnared the mansion, and she realizes why, despite the fact that she is trying with her life, she cannot access her powers. The tangible silence that engulfs their room is married with screams and the smashing of a menagerie of items, now both inside and outside of the institute. It is almost as if they are being besieged by an onslaught of Mark I Sentinels, if only that were the case, just about any other scenario would have been more bearable than this crushing reality. 'Please, Laurie. Do not cry,' Sofia says, looking over to their long arched windows, with the sun still streaming in, belying a traumatizing day. She cannot believe that any of this is happening. 'It is well.' Sofia unravels her quilt, unperturbed by the fact that she'd already been changed from New Mutants gear into casual clothing. An uncomplicated explanation is that Laurie must have presided over that during her comatose state, and that is a bittersweet comfort. Lithely swinging her legs from underneath the quilt, she flits from being poised on the precipice of emotional anguish to the leader archetype that she had composed during her tenure as co-leader of the New Mutants and all that had entailed. This is a volatile period, and despite her own personal predicament, for the sake of those who depend on her she must be an indestructible figure of strength. At least, that is what she's forcing herself to believe. As each and every single breath comes to her, and the gravity of this situation becomes all the more visceral, every fibre of her being yearns to scream in rage. She wants to erupt in a cataclysm of indignation. She wants to devolve into an infinitesimal speck and let the misery suffocate her. She wants so badly to cry and not stop. But she cannot and will not, at least not here and not now. 'The X-Men…Ms Frost and the X-Men don't really know what happened. But It's all across the news, Sofia. The whole world was affected.' In her inhibited psychological precariousness, Sofia gladly welcomes the truth behind that statement. There's something eerily consolidating about the fact that millions, if not billions of people in the world are synchronously suffering her plight. At least this tragedy was not solely restricted to the Institute. But the magnitude of this inexplicable phenomena is unequivocal. What could have possibly brought this on? Or who? Such questions may not ever be answered, and even if she were to have known, could they have ameliorated the pain within Sofia's heart? She remains silent. She catches sight of her New Mutants gear neatly folded and arranged at the foot of her bed, and quickly averts her eyes so as to circumvent the materialization of more depressing thoughts. She might not ever again adorn herself in them. Sofia looks at Laurie once more, steeling herself for more dread. Laurie's head is downcast. 'Laurie, what about the well-being of the other New Mutants? How did they fare?', Sofia asks.

'Dani and David lost their powers, too….', Laurie responds, her head still downcast. Sofia stares at Laurie transiently, taking no notice of the chaos transpiring in the Institute. Hardly anybody was left unscathed. Dani and David, Sofia thinks. There was something almost tactically strategic about the strike. Something almost surgical. That their mentor, and the leaders of the New Mutants squad were the ones to have been divested of their powers, despite their persistence to maintain unification when stricken by scandal and internalized conflict. Their resolution was an ephemeral one, and perhaps one that was never meant to have been.

Sofia hugs Laurie, slightly startling the girl, but Laurie embraces her with even greater passion. They make arrangements to depart from the room, convene with the others and chart a trajectory for the future considering all that is and isn't know about this situation. 'Before we leave, Sofia,', Laurie starts, Sofia, just in front of their bedroom door, turns around to face Laurie. In that moment she recognizes the manifestations of growth and maturation within Laurie, since their fateful day of encountering each other for the first time in this room. How she had grown her hair out, and how she had become more assertive, more sure of who she was and what she wanted. More open and less reluctant to express her feelings. 'I don't know how else to say this so…I'll just go right ahead. I love you, Sofia. You're my best friend. I don't know what'll happen after this, but…I hope…I hope this won't affect our friendship. And I hope that we'll never really leave each other's side., Laurie says, locking Sofia's eyes intimately with her own. Never before has Laurie displayed such forwardness. 'I know that was a lot, but I'm growing and developing at the worst of times, and I can't credit that development to anyone other than you. Please don't leave, Sofia.' Laurie's words incorrigibly immobilize Sofia, for though she could not conceive of any viable reasons for why it may come to pass, the thought of being forcefully divorced from the Institute had blazed tracks within the entrails of Sofia's mind, and now here fate had dealt her another rueful hand by having her receive an imploration from her dearest friend. Truly, none of this could have or should have been, except it was. 'I…', she starts, a split-second of hesitation invites a myriad of sensations and memories pertaining to Sofia's tenure at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, everything she had lost and gained, all of her dreams and aspirations up until this time. She finalizes her decision. She breaks her own heart. 'I will not.', she finally says. They hug once more, they both cry, both recover, and both proceed to exit their room for beginning of a new, but dark chapter in their lives.


End file.
